Yum for the tum tum...

Don't you just love it when you have an idea or desire and you voice it to others in random chatting. Only to hear a few weeks or so later they suddenly have the same idea. I am sure it probably not a conscious thing most of the time but that can drive me crazy. Especially when it's your own mother doing it. ha ha..

So the other day I was talking to her on the phone and she brought up how she wanted to make a pumpkin roll and it looked so good etc. Well I of course had brought this to her attention around Thanksgiving and wanted to make it for our Christmas Eve dinner but never got the chance.

After talking with her about it I had to bake one up and fast, can't have mom beat me to it.Thank goodness for those extra cans of pumpkin laying around the pantry. This was super quick and easy to make and not to mention insanely yummy....

Alexis said it looked weird and kept asking what it was, then after I told her she begged for a piece. Which was fine by me because we all know by this time what that means. She's my photo prop, totally think it's a fair trade. She does too of course.

If you still need a bit more pumpkin in your life and want to bake one of these bad boys up, I used THIS recipe and it was perfect...I took the easy way out and used a few of those silicone baking sheets to bake it on and roll it in. No sticking and easy clean up works for me...

Cozy on the inside...

I know legwarmers are so 80's but if you are a tall skinny teen you could always use an extra layer of

 warmth this time of year. So another few hour project later and Alexis has her very own cozy pair.

The pattern is actually for big fat cozy socks but I figured they would get more use if they were legwarmers so legwarmers they are.

My favorite part about them....

 I can wear them too..

Whoohoo..

A little Granny Poncho

            Love how this little poncho turned out, perfect project to get me back in the swing of things. And a perfect blue sky day to snap a few pics of it too.

                                                     

Merry Christmas....

                                              Pheww what a crazy beautiful few days it has been....

We had the family over our house for Christmas Eve..I spent most of the day prior pulling out all the stops for a great dinner. Which thankfully turned out pretty darn good. Even if my eyes are wayyy bigger then my stomach and I ate too much..Way too much..

And since I had no time to wrap I warned everyone that Scott wrapped the presents. Which would have probably ended up a bomb threat if they were to be left sitting around anywhere. But hey a wrapped gift is a wrapped gift right...Even if you are a bit scared to open it...

Would you open this thing??

It was Sophie's first Christmas and despite a bit of teething she had a blast. My youngest got her first baby doll and my oldest got his first Cell phone...What a contrast of gifts..



And talk about gifts, there were just too many to mention

But boy do I feel  blessed to have such a wonderful family who all  helped to give my kids an amazing day.

With awesome gifts like the big wheel from Auntie Kim

And the instant fave, trampoline from the grandparents. To name a few...

I feel so very blessed  and content as this year wraps up. Excited and ready to take on the next. And super  anxious to continue to share it with you all...



Always time for a hat...

I whipped up a couple Meathead hats recently for some fellow Army wives, children. And as with most gifted items I did not get photos of them. So I of course had to make one for Sophie to give me a reason to talk about it here. The hat is about as basic and quick as they come and I'm sure I am pretty close to one of the last people on the planet to make one. But I love it and I will definitely be making a ton more. I think this one took me all of 40 mins. Just a bit bummed that she has reached that stage of ripping hats off after a few quick snaps of the camera. Guess I need to start making something different for her.

                                                                        Raveled

I've been in a little bit of a funk lately, more worried about getting the house cleaned and organized and of course finding great deals on gifts for 5 children then crafting and taking photos. I know it comes with the territory of the Holidays but if anything it just proves to me how much those things mean to me and how healing they are for me too. Normally I would be completely freaking out about how fast time is going but this year I am certainly embracing it. I know as soon as it's over I can get back to being me and there will be new toys/activities and such in the house to keep the kids busy which buys me a bit more "me" time. Which of course means more blog time.

Back to crazy town. for now, have a wonderful weekend.

Crochet Ribbon Tree

I had another go at my  Christmas tree. Think this time I got it more like what was in my head. And the first thing that comes to mind is that old ribbon candy you get when you visit the grandparents. Isn't it cute??

Here is what I did....

• I chained 202 with a J hook and worsted yarn.
• DC'd in 3rd chain from hook and every remaining chain,
• I then fastened off leaving a very long tail.
• I folded  it on top of each other like the ribbon candy back and forth starting from the bottom, working up and making it smaller as I went to the top.."obvious I know"
• With the long tail on the top I used the hook and pulled it through each tier on one side down to the bottom corner across the bottom and back up other side.  Then pulled it down the middle across 2 dc's on the bottom and back up to the top.
• Straighten it all back out (mind bunched up a little as I did this) and fasten off leaving a bit of a space for hanging. 
•  Add two rows of HDC of brown in the four middle dc's on the bottom for trunk
• And attach a star.  "I attached my star as I weaved the tail up through"

Star Pattern

• Ch 3, 2 dc in first chain. *Ch2 3 dc, repeat from * 3 more times. ch2 and slip stitch to beginning chain
• Slip stitch to first ch 2 space. Ch1, hdc, dc, ch1 dc, 2 hdc, in next ch2 space *2hdc,dc, ch1, dc, 2hdc. Repeat from*  3 more times. slip stitch to bottom starting chain  and fasten off.

Progress Report...

 I am halfway finished with the Dottie Angel blanket as well, and is already being broken in. By the munchkins.

Crazy Crochet Lady...

I often joke about my sister eventually becoming the crazy cat lady. But to be fair she only has 1 cat and will barely be turning 30 next month. But she is single with no kids and cats seem to come out of the woodwork where ever she lives so it's not all bogus..

Well today as I was madly trying to figure out the puzzle of a new hat pattern I realized she may be the crazy cat lady  but I am the crazy crochet lady and let's face it. The stigma attached to that title for the regular non crafty folk is way worse.

Right??

Hubby often jokes that I am going to turn into his Grandma and gift everyone random handmade things that they don't want. I guess it's a good thing that I don't have time to make everyone a gift otherwise he might be right. Although I beg to differ on the "don't want" aspect.

But who knows..

So back to the hat..I asked Alexis to pop this on when she got home from school today. She gave me the usual eye roll and made me put it on her.  I snapped a few pics and she asked to see. After I showed her she immediately took it off and put it under the couch cushion. When I yelled to Andrew to come and try it on she looked at me and laughing said "your not getting it back" Here I thought she was taking it off cause she didn't like it. She was actually hiding it so I couldn't take it away.

Gotta love it....

Thinking a pom-pom might be cute too, what do you think?